St. Louis-area police suspect two or more serial killers

ST. LOUIS -- Police in jurisdictions across the St. Louis metro area suspect that the deaths of at least 10 women are the work of two or more serial killers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

The bodies of 13 women have been found in the St. Louis area under similar circumstances during the past two years. Many were dumped along highways or left in vacant lots. Most of the women were drug addicts and prostitutes, some leaving children behind.

Authorities had long supposed that the murders were the work of a serial killer. But investigators now suspect there are at least two killers, one who might have killed four of the women and another who might have killed six or more, the Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.

The newspaper based its report on interviews with investigators and other sources in recent days. Police from East St. Louis, Ill., to St. Charles County, Mo., have increased their cooperation in an effort to solve the murders.

A man suspected of killing four of the women -- Yvette House, 33, Seriece Johnson, 33, Ramona Sidney, 31, and Tracy Williams, 38, all of East St. Louis -- is in prison in Illinois for auto theft. He is due for release in late January, and police are hurrying to gather evidence so that charges could be filed, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources.